1. The goal of equitable development regularly pursued by the Economic and
Social Council (ECOSOC) has taken a new and timely turn in the present session.
ECOSOC focuses on a theme that is both timely and strategic: "Creating an
environment at the national and international levels conducive to generating
full and productive employment and decent work for all, and its impact on
sustainable development." The Delegation of the Holy See fully endorses this
agenda that highlights the central place of the human person, the value of human
work and that points out the way to overcome chronic poverty and marginality.
Decent work , in fact, entails a quality of life that goes beyond production: it
is a dimension of the person himself, who gives work its highest value.

People looking and hoping for a job, who find themselves out of work, are at
an all time high with the consequent serious risk that the fight against poverty
and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals will be frustrated and
that this frustration may provoke disorderly behavior and, surely, a less secure
world. Already in 1967 Pope Paul VI had stated: "Development is the new name of
peace." (Populorum
Progressio).

It may be now the occasion to ask why much direct financial assistance and
technology exchange have not been as effective as planned and to reconsider the
relationship between development and the broader goals of international
cooperation.

2. If individuals and the different groups and associations which make up
society take on a primary responsibility in the economy in a healthy
subsidiarity, this local involvement can propel the economy forward. At the
grass root level it is the creation of new jobs that puts the economy in motion.
Active participation in work unclench the creative capacities and energies of
each person within the specific moment and level of development of a country.
Step by step poverty is reduced, emigration becomes an option instead of a
necessity, social standards begin to develop, people are lifted out of a vicious
circle of misery and indecent conditions of life. It becomes clear that "the
primary basis of the value of work is the human person as such" (John Paul II,
Laborem exercens,
6).

To obtain this goal for societies in the grip of unemployment, assistance for
capacity building will have to be adapted to the level of development of each
country. In this way, a waste of resources will be avoided. Donors will see
their solidarity fruitful for the receiving countries and, in the long run, also
for themselves. In our present interconnectedness, to the necessity of preparing
products for the global market corresponds the responsibility to help the people
of the least developed societies to have the training and the know-how that
allow them a fair chance to compete. A realistic partnership gives priority to
the choices based on local possibilities of labour intensive economic
initiatives managed with honesty and responsible competence and leading out of a
stifling status quo. Such a job creating approach prevents the unintended effect
of some official development assistance that ends up by enriching a small group
of corporations or small group of persons who then incline to block
democratization and even to tolerate corruption.

3. When the process of transformation of society takes hold, decent work
contributes another important dimension, that of a sense of future that is
hopeful and that gives the possibility to recover personal protagonism and
self-respect, and that favors a more integrated social structure. In fact the
family can be supported, children are not forced to work and instead can accede
to education, the values of organization and participation are learned. On this
base, work serves as a major element in the self-fulfillment of each woman and
man.

4. The way forward, then, appears to be the political acceptance of
conditions that allow for local labour-intensive employment and this creation of
jobs fights poverty and sets in motion social change. In the context of today’s
globalization, however, while wealth increases, the gap between rich and poor
persists. A convergence or coherence among international actors in the economic
and development arena can multiply the results in job creation, and this implies
a better coordination of financial investment policies, of agricultural reforms
and access to markets, of good governance. A progressive elimination of external
debt will then result as a consequence of this strategy.

If the Doha trade round negotiations fail to conclude with some positive
agreements, the world’s poor and hungry will pay most of the price and the
chance for their growth, their development and for decent work will vanish for a
long time. The courage and political imagination to make the needed compromises
can lead instead to a renewal of common action and show a concrete commitment to
the elimination of global poverty which is still a scandal and a threat to peace
and security.

At this juncture in history when the international family of nations wants to
promote " better standards of life in larger freedoms", special interests of
agencies and of countries should give away to the opportunity of a coherent
action for the common good, for a fair share by all in trade, in
decision-making, and in the benefits of development.

5. Work and development call for a change in focus and priorities so that the
enabling environment of peace, dialogue, respect of subsidiarity and
participation may allow for the growth of decent work and ultimately the
development of every person. The proposed ‘Decade for Full and Productive
Employment and Decent Work for All’ could serve as a period of reflection and
action on these priorities. The rules of the economy and trade, the technical
progress we daily witness, the political engagement for a just international
order: all these are components of an enabling environment geared to safeguard
the dignity and creativity of every human person and ensure a future of justice
and peace for the entire human family.